This is not the week the Eagles envisioned.
Instead of traveling to No. 3 Christ Lutheran for a chance at first place in the Conference, the No. 6 Eagles scheduled a trip to Mount Pulaski, on Wednesday. In a game that was much closer than expected, Jace Easley and Our Savior's hung on to beat Mount Pulaski 67-62 in overtime.
It wasn’t the type of game the Eagles wanted, trailing the Conference bottom feeders 9-0 by Wednesday's first timeout, and trailing by as many as six late in the second half. Our Savior's looked a bit out of sync defensively for most of the opening period, but once the threes started falling — the Eagles were right back in it.
“Winners win and losers lose...and we found a way to win,” said Eagles head coach Phillip Heppe post game. “That’s what winners do.”
Jace Easley was able to spark the Eagles with a made three and a steal converted with a layup, but the game really swung in the Eagles favor once Conor McCaffrey got involved.
McCaffrey tallied 11 points and five assists in the first half alone — continuing his wrath of scoring on whoever is currently getting in his way. McCaffrey finished with 23 points, 9 boards and 13 assists.
Turnovers were prevalent from both teams in the first half, with the Eagles turning it over nine times and Pulaski eight. A late 9-2 run to close the first half narrowed the Eagles deficit to just one at the break.
The second half featured a bit of back and forth between the state's sixth ranked team and the Conference last place team — and Pulaski went on a 12-2 run midway through to build a six point advantage over the Eagles.
“We escaped in a very ugly fashion,” Heppe said. “Give Pulaski a ton of credit.”
Pulaski wouldn’t go away — with three players in double figures —so the Eagles turned to their preseason All-State member to take over and close, as usual.
“It was his time,” Heppe said.
Easley was doing it all offensively in the second period, scoring 15 of his 31 points and pouring in three of his five assists. But it was his block in the game’s closing seconds that sent the game to overtime.
The State Player of the Year candidate added an additional seven points — scoring 17 of the Eagles final 21 — in the overtime period, leading the Eagles to their fifth straight conference win.
“I’m just glad that No. 21 was on our team tonight,” Heppe said.